AUTHORS

With just a day to spare, Congress approved a stopgap measure to fund the federal highway program, sending President Barack Obama the legislation to avert a Friday shutdown of transportation projects nationwide.

Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he will immediately shut down the decrepit Baltimore City Detention Center, moving inmates to nearby facilities and ending a long-standing "black eye" for the state.

Backers of an effort to put the question of legalizing marijuana before Ohio voters in November filed nearly 96,000 new signatures Thursday in hopes they'll patch a roughly 30,000-signature hole identified in their prior petitions.

The Michigan Supreme Court, in an opinion that has the effect of making state employees subject to Michigan's 2012 right-to-work law, ruled Wednesday that Michigan's Civil Service Commission never had the authority to impose union fees on state workers, even before the controversial law was passed.

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and four associates were indicted Wednesday on racketeering conspiracy charges stemming from several alleged schemes to misuse campaign funds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to further their political and financial interests.

Defying sharp warnings from gun rights groups, Los Angeles thrust itself into the national debate over gun control Tuesday, as city lawmakers voted unanimously to ban the possession of firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared drought emergencies in 23 of the state's 36 counties and ordered state agencies to conserve water as another parched year threatens fish and forests, limits agriculture and recreation, and worsens the risk of wildfire.

The city had been bracing from the possible fallout as the Hamilton County grand jury weighed the evidence in the case of Officer Ray Tensing, who on July 19 stopped Samuel DuBose for a missing front license plate.

Gov. Scott Walker wants to all but eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and place each state in charge of controlling air and water pollution within its borders if he is elected president, he told a conservative newspaper.

Communications within city government broke down during the riots of April 27, as officials desperate for information exchanged rumors and subordinates questioned city leaders, emails and other documents released by the city Monday reveal.

LaGuardia Airport was born of controversy after Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, miffed that his city did not have its own airport, refused to exit a plane that had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in neighboring New Jersey.

In a press conference barely an hour before the USOC board of directors had a Monday conference call to discuss the Boston bid, the city's mayor said he would not commit to signing the host city contract that would make Boston the financial backstop for any Olympic Games losses.

Shofars sounded amid the chanting and cheering, clapping and crying as about 100 people crowded together on a strip of sidewalk in Eastern Market today to pray and protest the Satanic Temple's plans to unveil a Baphomet monument in Detroit later tonight.

Lawmakers voted Thursday to cut funding for cities and towns that refuse to comply with federal immigration laws as they debated how to respond to the fatal shooting of a young woman in San Francisco in which the suspect had been deported to Mexico five times.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped a proposal to cap the growth of ride-hailing service Uber after the plan ignited a backlash from the company, its allies, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and even model Kate Upton.

An analysis of crash data in 12 Texas cities with cellphone rules found no consistent reduction in distracted driving wrecks after cities enacted bans. And that follows equally mixed reviews found by scientific studies on statewide bans on texting or handheld cellphone use while driving in other states.

Each state gets two statues in the U.S. Capitol. Is it time to get rid of the one honoring Edmund Kirby Smith, a Confederate general who surrendered the last military force of the Confederacy in Galveston, Texas?

More than three years ago, Rod Blagojevich stood with his family on the steps of his Chicago bungalow and vowed to dozens of supporters to fight to overturn his conviction on corruption charges and his 14-year prison sentence.

Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Scott Walker on Monday banned abortions in Wisconsin after 20 weeks of pregnancy -- a law that is sure to curry favor with conservative voters but could be successfully challenged in court.

The California governor will travel to the Vatican for a symposium on climate change and human trafficking, along with several mayors. They're making the trip one month after Pope Francis issued an encyclical on the environment.

Gov. Bill Haslam on Sunday ordered a review of security policies at Tennessee National Guard recruiting stations and armories following last week's assault on two U.S. military facilities in Chattanooga that left four U.S. Marines and a sailor dead.

Public agencies in Missouri that don't respond in three days to requests for public records under the state Sunshine Law give up their right to block the release of the records requested, a judge says in a lawsuit over the release of the pharmacy name in Missouri's executions.

The city is paying rates that approach 8 percent on the $743 million in taxable debt sold Wednesday. Chicago's borrowing costs have risen dramatically relative to other borrowers as its credit rating has deteriorated.

Arizona's legal team came to Pasadena on Thursday to defend the state's refusal to issue driver's licenses to so-called Dreamers, and found that one member of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was in no mood for legal maneuvering.

Four of the state's 17 federal judges have retired or moved to part-time status, but the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, under GOP control, has taken no action on three pending nominations backed by New Jersey's Democratic senators.

During its annual public meeting, the state's Parole Board on Wednesday unanimously passed proposed changes to Department of Corrections regulations, including rules on who is allowed to attend parole hearings largely kept secret from the public.

Democrats who control the General Assembly were unable to corral enough votes to completely override Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's vetoes of a new state budget on Wednesday, leaving the state without full spending power as the political stalemate that threatens to shut down portions of state government showed no signs of dissipating.

With the ink still drying on a second chance society initiative endorsed by black community leaders in Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was recognized Tuesday for his work by President Barack Obama at the NAACP's national convention in Philadelphia.

Just one month before classes start, dozens, and possibly hundreds of Missouri college students are suddenly finding out their tuition is about to more than double because of a rule change passed by Missouri lawmakers.

As Illinois's gridlocked government stumbles toward a shutdown, the very rich governor sends cash to his party's lawmakers and bankrolls statewide TV ads vilifying Democratic legislative leaders who oppose his agenda.

Richard Rose, the president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, says the carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson is a "glorification of white supremacy."

The Senate president and the speaker of the House said Monday that when they reconvene, they'll wrap up what little work remains on their calendars, due to a unusual legal fight with Gov. Paul LePage, and formally end legislative work.

As a budget impasse between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature stretches on, everyone in the state Capitol is asking this question: When will the Legislature run out of money?

Chicago Public Schools on Monday unveiled school spending plans that rely on a half-billion dollars more than the district has on hand -- an approach the head of the city's principals association compared to writing a bad check.

The Rev. William Barber, head of the NAACP and an architect of the high-profile protest movement challenging much of the Republican agenda in North Carolina, has spent two years dogging key legislative leaders and the governor about sweeping changes to the elections law.

The Wisconsin governor signed off on the $72.7 billion spending plan, after using his powerful veto pen to alter 104 items -- nearly twice as many as he has previously. This budget includes a $250 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System.

Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday signed a broad municipal court reform bill that will cap court revenue and impose new requirements in an attempt to end what the bill's sponsor called predatory practices aimed at the poor.

The proposals--put forth by conservative policy organizations, such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute--generally would allow more flexibility in the type of health plans that can be sold. But the proposals are examples of the inescapable problems in health care reform.

Vowing to free Maryland businesses from what he called "nonsensical, out-of-control" regulations, Gov. Larry Hogan launched a commission Thursday charged with reviewing every rule on the state's books with an eye to streamlining or eliminating them.

The Florida Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to Florida's political landscape Thursday, throwing out the state's carefully-crafted congressional districts drawn by the GOP-led Legislature and ordered a new map within 100 days.

Gov. Paul LePage had more than 10 days to veto 19 bills sent to him by the Legislature in late June. Though he was outspoken in his opposition to the bills, he didn't get around to vetoing them and they will all take effect as law. But LePage on Wednesday said his administration just won't enforce them.

A Federal Aviation Administration official presented Ellington Airport and city officials with the launch license establishing the airport as the nation's 10th federally designated commercial spaceport.

At a time when Obamacare remains deeply unpopular among Republicans, the Indiana plan, in which the poor pay a little for coverage, is attracting new interest as GOP governors seek ways to put a conservative stamp on expanding coverage.

Budget gridlock has been building since Bruce Rauner was elected governor in November. He campaigned on a pledge to cut spending, reform government and cut or hold the line on taxes. If he can't reach an agreement with the legislature, the government may shut down.

The tax limitation in Clark County has cost $119 million in lost revenue since 2009. That, combined with the recession meant it had to fire 1,500 municipal workers. It still can't afford to cover the daily cost of each inmate held in county jail.

In the fall, the justices will hear a direct challenge to the fees brought on behalf of Rebecca Friedrichs, a public school teacher in Orange County who objects to supporting the California Teachers Association.

Faculty at the state's universities, backed by national higher-education groups, say the Wisconsin governor is risking the quality and prestige of one of the country's leading state universities to fuel his presidential ambitions.

Declaring that gay unions deserve equal respect and dignity under the law, the Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry nationwide without regard to their state's laws.

Six lawmakers said Thursday they will attempt to launch impeachment proceedings against Republican Gov. Paul LePage for his alleged role in pushing Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves out of a new job at Good Will-Hinckley School.

A law that permitted the National Rifle Association to sue Philadelphia and other municipalities over local gun ordinances that are stricter than state law is unconstitutional, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

A controversial proposal that would make California one of the strictest states in the country in requiring school vaccinations passed a critical vote Thursday, moving the bill one step closer to landing on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the broad reach of a federal law that forbids racial discrimination in housing, ruling the civil rights measure covers more than merely cases of intentional and blatant racial bias.

Metra will likely face fines or other penalties for failing to meet a federally mandated deadline for installation of a high-tech safety system at the end of the year, the nation's top railroad regulator said Wednesday.

The tumultuous debate over the future of healthcare funding for the poor came to a quiet end Tuesday as the governor signed into law a budget that includes $1 billion in federal funds to pay for charity care and raise Medicaid rates at Florida hospitals.

Convicted murder Randall Daluz maintains a website. But once he is sentenced and moved to the Maine State Prison, his writings will challenge a recent policy by the Maine Department of Corrections that has forbidden inmates from publishing their work.

Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change could prevent tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of billions in economic losses in the United States, according to a new study by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Saying a proposed ballot measure calling for the killing of gay people is "patently unconstitutional on its face," a Sacramento County judge has ruled that the state attorney general can halt the proposal.

Striking down one of the last New Deal-era farm programs, the Supreme Court sided Monday with a California raisin grower in his decade-long legal battle over a federal raisin board's seizure of his crop to reduce supply and prop up prices.

Saying lawmakers defied the state constitution, three environmental groups sued the Florida Legislature Monday, claiming they ignored an amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters in November to conserve the state's disappearing wilderness and protect its water supplies.

Legislators and the governor have met behind closed doors for months, with little obvious progress on the issues that have dominated Capitol discourse: property-tax reform, liquor privatization, and a fix for skyrocketing pension costs. The deadline is June 30.

Repealing the federal health law would add an additional 19 million to the ranks of the uninsured in 2016 and increase the federal deficit over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday.

Promising to "rebuild the heart of America's cities," former Gov. Martin O'Malley used an appearance at a meeting of the nation's mayors on Sunday to call for a federal ban on assault weapons and stricter regulations on gun purchases.

Texas has every right to declare the Confederate battle flag too divisive to be emblazoned on its specialty license plates, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-4 decision that capped a heated debate over government regulation of speech.

Federal prosecutors will bring no criminal charges after an investigation into loans made to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's re-election campaign by his lieutenant governor, the U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday.

A federal appeals court upheld a voter-approved state law Thursday that allows sex offenders who have completed their prison sentences to be locked up for life if a jury determines they are mentally disturbed and dangerous.

Comprehensive crime bills were passed during the two previous legislative sessions to tackle the looming, costly threat. Now, the Pew Charitable Trusts, a global research and public policy nonprofit group, has agreed to provide free technical assistance to analyze what's driving the prison population boom.

The city spent a lot of money on a computer technology upgrade that was supposed to track how the city used a $30.8 million grant from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development to combat homelessness. It didn't work.

The California labor commissioner has ruled that an Uber driver is an employee of the company, not a contract worker as Uber has insisted all its drivers are, setting up another battle between state regulators and the ride-hailing giant.

The actions of former NAACP chairman Rachel Dolezal and two other members of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission threatened that group's impartiality and effectiveness, a city investigation has found.

A North Carolina law that would have forced doctors performing abortions to do an ultrasound, display the sonogram for the woman and describe it in great detail suffered a final defeat on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Leaders from Michigan, Ohio and Ontario have agreed to reduce phosphorus in the western Lake Erie basin by 40% by 2025. The nutrient is a key ingredient of widespread algae blooms in that portion of the lake -- including a toxic strain that disrupted water supplies to 400,000 people in southeast Michigan and the Toledo area last August.

With health insurance coverage expanded to millions more Californians, people living here illegally _ who are barred from signing up for Obamacare _ now make up the single biggest group of uninsured state residents.

Florida legislators on Monday begin the final week of their three-week special session that was required because they could not settle differences on health care and pass a budget in the regular session that ended April 30. This is the closest the Legislature has come to ending the fiscal year with no budget since 1992.

As a large manhunt for two escaped murderers stretched into its ninth day in upstate New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that "we don't know if they are still in the immediate area or if they are in Mexico by now."

The pot shop's surveillance video shows Santa Ana police officers entering Sky High Holistic, a marijuana dispensary, and forcing patrons to the ground as they raid the facility. Then an officer appears to toss an edible into mouth and flash a thumbs-up.

Lawyers for former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni wrote in court papers that a proposal to limit disclosure of the evidence in the case prior to the trial would hamper their defense.

A tax plan crawled to passage in the Kansas House in the early hours Friday morning, after Gov. Sam Brownback warned lawmakers that massive budget cuts would occur Monday if they failed to act on taxes.

An Ohio judge found probable cause to bring criminal charges against the Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year, but the decision whether to prosecute is still likely to rest with a county grand jury, officials said Thursday.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a package of bills Thursday that will allow faith-based adoption groups in Michigan to refuse to serve prospective parents, like same-sex or unmarried couples, if doing so would violate the groups' religious beliefs.

The Legislature's proposed spending bill for agriculture and the environment temporarily empties the Metropolitan Landfill Contingency Action Trust (MLCAT), which currently contains $8.1 million. The state says it will pay the money back later.

Democrats who control the New Jersey Legislature say they are planning a new budget that still makes a full pension-fund payment that's no longer required by law, setting up another showdown with Gov. Chris Christie.

Miami-Dade County school district announced Wednesday that Alberto Iber had been removed as principal after going online to defend Texas cop who waved a gun at black teens while responding to a call about an unruly pool party.

The police officer whose aggressive response to an unruly teenage pool party ignited a national controversy resigned Tuesday, leaving critics relieved and supporters disappointed that an officer they considered a hero had been forced out.

A federal appeals court has turned down legal challenges filed by Murray Energy and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey over the Obama administration's proposed rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that public workers do not have a legally enforceable contract to greater pension funding, handing Gov. Christie a significant victory in a yearlong battle with public-sector unions.

The Department of Revenue unveiled an interactive revenue and expenditure model Saturday. By downloading the Revenue and Expenditure Model, users can change the lines on future budgets by adjusting dozens of revenue and spending assumptions.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected efforts by gun owners and the National Rifle Association on Monday to halt San Francisco's enforcement of a 2007 ordinance requiring residents to keep handguns locked when stored at home.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case pitting Maine Gov. Paul LePage against the federal government that could have resulted in thousands of low-income young adults losing their health care coverage.

Millions of Americans could soon lose health insurance when the Supreme Court decides the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act this month, but states have made few plans to deal with the potential fallout, and they may get little help from Washington, President Barack Obama warned Monday.

The white South Carolina police officer whose shooting of a fleeing, unarmed black man was captured in a chilling cellphone video earlier this year has been indicted on a murder charge by a grand jury.

The plight of California's fish is not a new element in the state's protracted water wars. Several species have been listed by the government as endangered or threatened for years, bringing legal protections and sparking conflicts with farmers and others over the state's limited water supply.

The massive manhunt for two escaped killers from Clinton Correctional Facility entered its second day Sunday, with state officials saying the prisoners could be anywhere in New York state, Vermont or Canada.

Hillary Rodham Clinton positioned herself as a crusader for voting rights Thursday, calling for an overhaul of election laws so that every citizen would automatically be registered to vote on their 18th birthday.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders launched his White House bid on the lakefront of the city where his political career began. Florida Sen. Marco began his quest in Miami, surrounded by friends and family. If former Rhode Island Gov. and Sen. Lincoln Chafee takes the White House, history will show that his quest started a few metro stops away, on a college campus in Virginia _ and that he mused about an American "rapprochement" with the Islamic State.

Gov. Wolf this week formally proposed setting up a state-based insurance marketplace, potentially protecting hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents from the consequences of a Supreme Court decision that could gut Obamacare later this month.

The bill would end the requirement that couples obtain marriage licenses from probate judges prior to a wedding. Instead, marriages would be a legal contract, witnessed by a clergy member, attorney or notary public, and filed with the state through the probate office.

One morning in March, commercial trash hauler Adam Williams Jr. sent a text message to a Baltimore Department of Public Works employee at the city-owned Quarantine Road Landfill that read, "N. The. Gum."

In a state where public schoolteachers have marched on the state Capitol and staged walk-ins to protest pay and policy reforms, the N.C. Court of Appeals issued a ruling Tuesday that buoyed the spirits of the rallying educators and struck a blow to the Republican education agenda in North Carolina.

The Nevada Senate concurred on a $1.5 billion omnibus tax plan the Assembly passed Sunday, sending Gov. Brian Sandoval a historic measure to bolster education funding by more than $600 million in the next two years.

The Campaign for Accountability filed complaints with the attorney generals of Montana, Utah and Arizona alleging that Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory defrauded taxpayers funds by telling them the federal government can be forced to transfer public lands to the states.

Gov. Bill Walker said Monday he's still hoping for a budget solution from the Alaska Legislature but that without one he has no choice but to move forward with planning for a shutdown of unfunded government agencies.

Another budgetary storm is brewing in Oregon's public pension system, according to figures shared Friday with the pension system's board and the five-member citizens panel that oversees its investments.

A current member and former member of the state House of Representatives pleaded guilty Monday to corruption charges, bringing to three the number of Philadelphia Democrats convicted in the resurrected "sting" case.

The measure had been adopted in 2006 by the state's voters, and it said judges may not release on bail persons who have "entered or remained in the United States illegally" and were arrested for "serious felony offenses." The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law last year. The court said it would not hear the appeal.

Gov. Sam Brownback said his plan to exempt the lowest-wage earners from the income tax and raise the sales tax would close the current $400 million budget deficit and leave a reserve of about $75 million for 2016.

Lawyers for the Obama administration said Wednesday that they were refocusing their legal strategy in an effort to restart the president's plan to grant temporary legal protection to millions of illegal immigrants.

The state of Alaska is instituting a hiring freeze Friday across much of state government as a result of the Legislature's inability to approve a fully funded budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

With the death of a bill that would have created a statewide texting-while-driving ban, the measure’s author said Thursday that legislators “have not done our job as lawmakers to protect the life and safety of all Texans.”

In March, Gov. Pat McCrory voiced concerns about a bill to allow magistrates to opt out of performing marriages and said he won't sign it. He stopped short, however, of saying he would veto it. The governor can allow bills to become law without his signature.

George E. Pataki ambled his towering frame into the center of this quintessential New England town Thursday to announce he is running for president, prompting many here and around the nation to ask: "Who's he?"

A Philadelphia County grand jury has recommended that Priscilla Wright be charged in connection with the contract awarded to Murphy's Transporting and several subcontractors, all who were owned by either Wright's friends or her relatives.

Curtis Thompson, then Brookins' chief of staff, was arrested in February 2014 after prosecutors alleged he had accepted the bribe at the alderman's holiday party two months earlier from an FBI mole posing as a real estate developer in need of a liquor license for a new convenience store.

Florida regulators said they expect to provide access to a limited strain of non-euphoric marijuana for medical purposes by the end of the year after a Tallahassee judge on Wednesday dismissed the final challenge to the long-awaited rule.

For the second time in two months, Gov. Rick Scott's administration has acknowledged it inadvertently released confidential personal data of private citizens, prompting the state to offer free credit monitoring services to protect people from being victims of identity theft.

The governor's planned cuts to address a billion-dollar shortfall are proving unpopular, even among many Republicans.The final outcome of a struggle over the next few weeks will define the governor's image and could help determine whether he has any chance at all at the White House.

If Keith Cooper's request is granted _ and his felony record is erased _ legal experts say it will mark the first gubernatorial pardon they can recall in the state's history based on a claim of innocence.

Federal monitors will begin closely watching the activities of Cleveland's beleaguered police department under a settlement announced Tuesday in response to a string of high-profile, racially inflamed incidents that have rattled the community.

As the sun came up Tuesday, just hours after an overnight torrent that flooded highways and inundated neighborhoods, greater Houston faced yet one more painful recovery brought on by its occasionally lethal mix of climate and topography.

ne month after being named Florida's "superintendent of the year" by her peers in December, MaryEllen Elia was booted from her job in a 4-3 vote that stirred debate there and nationally as education reformers rallied to her defense.

Missouri legislators -- led by recipients of Smithfield Foods' political donations -- pushed through a controversial, last-minute measure to allow up to 1 percent of Missouri's agricultural land to come under foreign ownership. Now Shuanghui International of Hong Kong legally own the company's Missouri land. How did that happen?

When California officials struck an unprecedented conservation deal Friday with a group of farmers who have the strongest claims on the state's dwindling water supply, it showed no one was immune from the fallout of the drought.

The Justice Department and Cleveland officials have agreed to settle a case alleging widespread misconduct by the city's police, the first such agreement reached under the new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, who took office last month.

On a day that brought a new round of fierce thunderstorms and torrential rains, authorities continued a grim search Monday for 12 people still missing after being swept from riverfront homes, and property owners returned to dramatic scenes of destruction.

Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan's effort to ask voters to approve a measure to impose higher income taxes on millionaires failed in the House on Thursday, but provides the powerful Southwest Side politician ammunition to attack Republicans in next year's legislative campaigns.

Former Del. Joe Morrissey promised Thursday to marry the mother of his latest child, which would cement a relationship that got him tossed into the jail cell that served as his nightly home during the last legislative session.

The California Medical Association has become the first state medical association in the nation to drop opposition to what has long been known as "physician-assisted suicide," it said, acknowledging a shift in doctor and patient attitudes about end-of-life and aid-in-dying options.

Plains Pipeline, the large Texas-based company responsible for the pipe that ruptured in Santa Barbara County, has accumulated 175 safety and maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records.

The former Texas governor has set June 4 in Dallas for an announcement about his intentions to run. But unlike the more than a dozen other Republicans who are either in the presidential race already or on the verge, he is under indictment on charges of abuse of power.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday backed a plan to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour, joining a trend sweeping cities across the country as elected leaders seek to boost stagnating pay for workers on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder.

Lenny Curry, the energetic Jacksonville businessman-turned chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, defeated Mayor Alvin Brown Tuesday, only the second time in recent history a sitting mayor has lost re-election.

Paul LePage is proposing a bill to require any applicant to the TANF program -- regardless of whether they have any kind of criminal record related to drugs -- to undergo a written, 93-question screening test and then, depending on the results, a urine test.

President Barack Obama on Monday ordered the federal government to stop distributing a limited inventory of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies across the country because, he said, it makes police seem like an "occupying force" instead of public servants.

Camden's recently formed police force has made headway in cutting crime and gaining the trust of the community, but still has a way to go and cannot do the job of lifting up the struggling city all by itself, President Obama said Monday.

In a move that could brighten retirement prospects for millions of Americans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers have a duty to keep watch over 401(k) plans to guard against high management fees that can erode retirement savings.

Many environmentalists see Duke Energy's guilty plea and sentencing here last week as a potential turning point in their battle against coal ash, a turning point that could have implications well beyond North Carolina's borders.

Baltimore's Penn Station will be buzzing this morning and later tonight as Amtrak's Northeast Corridor reopens for full service -- enabling travelers on the nation's busiest section of commuter rail to move from New York to Washington, D.C., for the first time since a deadly crash in Philadelphia last week.

Gov. Rick Scott issued dire warnings of a "government shutdown" Thursday as he ordered state agencies to draw up lists of critical services that must continue if the Florida Legislature cannot pass a budget by July 1.

An electronic train-control system designed to prevent the kind of accident that killed at least seven people Tuesday was not in place where Amtrak Train 188 crashed, as it was entering one of the sharpest curves on the Northeast Corridor.

As the Obama administration prepares to change the way it enforces immigration laws, top officials have been conducting weeks of shuttle diplomacy, touring the country to try to re-enlist police chiefs and mayors in the cause of deporting people convicted of crimes.

Chicago's beleaguered public school system faces a likely increase in borrowing costs, tough bank negotiations and even calls for emergency state oversight after a major rating agency on Wednesday lowered the school district's debt rating to junk status.

A majority of the Legislature's Taxation Committee voted Wednesday to reject Gov. Paul LePage's plan to eliminate Maine's income tax, citing a projected $1.8 billion loss in state revenue and no plan to offset it.

The National Fair Housing Alliance and 19 local fair housing organizations filed a complaint alleging the institution maintained and marketed its foreclosed houses in white areas--including in the Baltimore region--better than in minority areas.

Chicago took yet another hit Tuesday when a major credit rating agency downgraded much of the city's debt to junk status, making it more difficult for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fix the financial mess without a major tax increase.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny won't face criminal charges in a fatal shooting that sparked protests in Madison and drew national attention as the country grapples with police shootings of unarmed black men.

Sociologists liken the mental health effects of a riot to those of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a hurricane, but with the added twist of being inflicted by other humans rather than happenstance.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting sea levels will rise as much as 2 feet by 2050 and by as much as 6.6 feet by 2100, Florida is way behind when it comes to recognizing the threat and launching efforts to combat it.

For rural communities that have watched their economic fortunes tumble and now struggle to pay for basic services including law enforcement, roads and schools, public lands look like a way out of economic problems.

If the candidates are hewing to the views of Republican voters on the question of legalization, they are running against the tide of opinion in the country overall, a conundrum the party faces on a host of social issues, including same-sex marriage.

The same day Gov. Rick Scott created a health care commission to probe the bottom line at Florida hospitals, his political committee collected $100,000 in contributions from one of the state's biggest hospital chains.

Citing the state's economic competitiveness, Gov. Maggie Hassan vetoed a bill that would prohibit the Department of Education or the state Board of Education from implementing Common Core standards in any school in the state.

Striving to put back together a fractured Republican conference, GOP senators Monday quickly galvanized support to make Suffolk County's Sen. John Flanagan their new majority leader and a member of Albany's exclusive three-men-in-a-room system of government.

Hillary Clinton's top campaign lawyer and others are challenging Ohio voting laws enacted by the Republican-dominated legislature and Gov. John Kasich, claiming in a lengthy federal lawsuit the measures were designed to suppress the votes of such traditional Democratic constituencies as blacks, Latinos and the young.

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday unanimously ruled unconstitutional a landmark state pension law that aimed to scale back government worker benefits to erase a massive $105 billion retirement system debt, sending lawmakers and the new governor back to the negotiating table to try to solve the pressing financial issue.

The nation's top law enforcement officials are likely to have a watchful presence over Baltimore police for the next few years, as the U.S. Department of Justice examines whether officers commonly use excessive force and violate residents' constitutional rights.

The state employee who manages fraud investigations for the state welfare department was charged with fraud himself Wednesday for lying about his assets on an application to refinance his home mortgage.

For the first time in at least four decades, Ohio State University plans to freeze all of its costs -- tuition, fees, room and board -- for in-state, undergraduate students, who represent most of the university's enrollment.

In the clearest sign yet that the Great California Recovery is proceeding on pace, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins announced Tuesday that the state's revenue has climbed as much as $8 billion in the last four months.

The Christie administration on Wednesday told the New Jersey Supreme Court that granting public workers a contractual right to pension funding would violate the state constitution and place a "fiscal stranglehold on the state in perpetuity."

Proposal 1, likely one of the most complicated and confusing questions ever placed on a Michigan ballot, was soundly rejected Tuesday as many voters expressed anger at lawmakers and state government for failing to come up with a better solution to the sorry state of the roads.

Efforts to limit sugary drinks and junk foods in California elementary schools appear to have resulted in fewer kids who are overweight or obese. The benefits were limited to children at wealthier schools, however.

State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son were arrested Monday by federal authorities, who alleged the state's top Republican extorted bribes and campaign contributions from companies in exchange for steering key real estate legislation and rigging a lucrative Nassau County environmental contract to his son's benefit.

The prosecution of Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni has just begun in the George Washington Bridge saga, but the two have already made part of their legal strategy clear: Neither is stupid enough to have closed lanes at the bridge to punish Fort Lee's mayor. And the government's key witness is a liar.

At a time when legislative leaders desperately needed intervention to break a budget deadlock, the governor was far from the action -- attending political fund-raisers, casting for jobs in California and dedicating a new amusement park ride in Orlando.

All six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured while in police custody, will face serious criminal charges ranging from second-degree murder to assault, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said on Friday.

A former ally of Gov. Christie's pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiracy in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal, admitting the closures were retribution against a local mayor for failing to endorse the Republican governor's 2013 reelection.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter called on the three supervising educators that he resentenced Thursday to start giving back to the community while they wait for their appeals to be heard.

The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a key piece of the Legislature's 2013 reform work on the Public Employees Retirement System, setting the stage for a heavy financial cost to government agencies across the state while restoring lost benefits to retirees.

While many in downtown and Midtown are hailing upcoming developments as things that will boost the local economy while bringing people together, man residents sees them as just more projects serving others.

The law would protect employees in Washington, D.C., from being fired for reproductive health choices. Members of Congress who want to see the law overturned say that it discriminates against employers who have religious objections to birth control and abortion. But is it worth fighting?

The House and Senate were unable to reach a final agreement this week on several policy issues contained within the state's Retirement and Investment Office and Public Employees Retirement System budget, which means the governor may call a special session.

Pledging that "we are going to heal our communities," Gov. John Kasich created an advisory board on Wednesday to develop first-ever standards for law-enforcement agencies statewide as a step toward "bridging the gap" between officers and those they serve.

A sharply divided Supreme Court engaged in an hour of contentious arguments Wednesday about the effectiveness of an Oklahoma lethal injection drug and whether death penalty "abolitionists" were actually making executions more painful.

Gov. Rick Scott filed a lawsuit claiming that the federal government tried to force Medicaid expansion on the state after federal health officials said they would be more likely to continue a $2.2 billion hospital funding program if state lawmakers voted to expand healthcare coverage to low-income Floridians.

President Barack Obama forcefully condemned the riots in Baltimore as "counterproductive" on Tuesday, labeling the rioters as "criminals and thugs" and striking a new tone of frustration with the cycle of allegations of deadly police abuse followed by violent protests.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, who struggled Monday to stop rioting in the city, spent most of his law enforcement career in California, confronting unrest during a rocky two-year tenure in Oakland.

Ride-share giant Uber has signed several high-profile lobbyists -- including Gov. Sam Brownback's former campaign manager -- to represent it in an expected legislative fight over new regulations for the ride-share industry.

Anthony M. Kennedy was a 44-year-old appeals court judge in Sacramento, Calif. _ a Republican appointee and happily married Catholic _ when he first confronted the question of whether the Constitution protected the rights of gays and lesbians.

The region's two top law enforcement agencies have been locked in a conflict over last year's fatal police shooting of a mentally ill homeless man--a case the officers said was self-defense, but which the city's chief prosecutor alleged was murder.

A day of mostly peaceful demonstrations against the death of Freddie Gray turned confrontational as dark fell over Baltimore Saturday evening, as protesters blocked traffic near the Inner Harbor, smashed police car windows and shouted, "Killers!" at officers in riot gear.

A few hours before the gavel came down on the regular session, Gov. Jay Inslee signed one of the most-discussed laws, one that brings medical marijuana under much of the same state control and oversight as the newer recreational pot system.

Brue Rauner's budget will make roughly $106 million in cuts to the Medicaid health care program for the poor, much of which takes the form of a 16.75 percent reduction to reimbursement payments to doctors and pharmacies.

While proponents continue their efforts to set aside 150,000 acres in northern Maine for a national park and recreation area, Gov. Paul LePage voiced his opposition to the plan in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama.

North Carolina is the first state to consider spending money to hire graduates from a new national internship program that trains military veterans as computer forensic analysts to catch people who sexually abuse children.

State Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn is expected to name Paul Comfort as the new head of the Maryland Transit Administration on Friday, a day after the resignation of the head of the State Highway Administration.

The state's new governor pointed out that voters have twice since 1994 backed measures sharply limiting contributions, but this hasn't gone anywhere due to Oregon's strict protections on "free speech."

The California raisins were back before the Supreme Court, and the justices sounded ready to rule in favor of a Fresno farmer in his long battle against a Depression-era law that allows the government to seize privately grown crops to reduce supply and prop up prices.

The city's shift to privatized trash pickup last March brought with it the opportunity for homeowners citywide to opt in to curbside recyling. But a year later, the recycling program remains largely unused.

Officials and community leaders welcomed Tuesday the Justice Department's announcement that it is opening a criminal investigation into Freddie Gray's death in Baltimore police custody _ an incident that continues to spark angry demonstrations.

Add Tennessee and Kansas to the list of states that have been warned by the Obama administration that failing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act could jeopardize special funding to pay hospitals and doctors for treating the poor.

Called "Turnaround Illinois," the fund will be able to raise an unlimited amount of money as a super political action committee to support legislative candidates who will implement Gov. Bruce Rauner's reforms.

A state appeals court dealt a potentially serious blow Monday to local governments' attempts to encourage water conservation in drought-parched California, ruling that they cannot charge higher rates to big users simply because those customers guzzle more water.

In a stunning, abrupt end to the first trial in years of a Chicago police officer for a fatal off-duty shooting, a Cook County judge acquitted the veteran cop Monday on a legal fine point, drawing outrage from the black victim's family and leaders in the African-American community.

A 25-year-old Baltimore man died Sunday a week after reportedly suffering a partially severed spine during an arrest, and the mayor vowed "to find out exactly what happened" and "hold the right people accountable."

While Wisconsin and Florida are the first states to outright ban employees from working on climate change, at least publicly, Republican legislators have long tampered with how governments address global warming.

President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to battle climate change by forcing power plants to reduce their greenhouse gases appeared to survive its first court challenge Thursday, but only because the formal rules are still pending at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Efforts to designate the "Holy Bible" as Tennessee government's official book failed in the state Senate Thursday after the controversial bill, which had attracted national attention, was forced back to committee.

Federal health officials turned up the pressure on Florida Tuesday, saying the future of $1.3 billion in federal funding for hospitals that treat low-income patients is tied to whether the Legislature expands Medicaid.

A bill to prevent parents from opting their children out of school-required vaccinations could be headed for a major rewrite after lawmakers heard impassioned testimony from hundreds of parents who threatened to take their kids out of school.

The longest criminal trial in Georgia history ended Tuesday with two former educators admitting guilt in the nation's largest test-cheating conspiracy and eight others proclaiming innocence as a judge ordered them to prison.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent his first day in New Hampshire pitching overhauls to Social Security and federal health care, visiting a pizzeria and courting Republicans during what appeared to be a campaign trip in all but name.

The head of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division Special Litigation Section said two weeks ago that the city had stopped responding to phone calls and emails about an excessive force investigation.

Ten former Atlanta educators convicted of racketeering in a test cheating scandal have been given an evening to make a life-changing decision: apologize for their crimes and waive a right to appeal or go to jail.

Indiana's economic development and tourism agencies announced Monday they have hired global PR firm Porter Novelli to help rebuild the state's image in the wake of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act debacle.

A reserve sheriff's deputy accidentally shot an unarmed man with a gun instead of a Taser, and Oklahoma law enforcement officials berated the man as he lay dying on the ground, according to body-camera footage released this weekend.

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents finalized tuition increases for nine campuses on Friday, and pushed back against a key lawmaker who blasted UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank for proposing a 35% tuition increase over four years for nonresident undergraduates.

Voters on Tuesday approved letting state Supreme Court justices choose who will lead them -- a change to a 126-year-old system that is likely to result in the demotion of Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

The Michigan Supreme Court, rejecting arguments from unions, has upheld a 2012 state law requiring teachers and other school employees to put more of their pay toward their pension plans or face cuts to benefits such as post-retirement health care.

For the first time in Ferguson's 120-year history, the City Council will have three black members, but even so, Tuesday's election was less than a clear victory for the throngs of volunteers who poured into the city in a last-minute push to sway voters.

A South Carolina police officer was charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man after authorities obtained a video that showed him unleash a volley of gunfire while the victim ran away, officials said.

With his re-election victory Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel renewed his lease on a municipal fixer-upper, one with buckling and painful-to-repair financial underpinnings caused by decades of deferred maintenance.

Now that a win for marijuana reform is in the books in Kansas' largest city, the focus shifts to Topeka, where the attorney general has called Wichita's voter-approved initiative unlawful and the Legislature could consider as many as three marijuana-related bills in the coming weeks.

Gov. Rick Scott threw more cold water Monday on the state Senate's push for expanding health insurance for low-income Floridians, saying it was too risky to rely on support from the federal government.

Now, with his approval rating at home at an all-time low and his rankings in presidential polls dropping, the New Jersey governor will take the events that helped him gain a reputation as a straight shooter to a key early voting state.

This week, Crystal Stovall will choose between two black candidates running to represent her City Council ward in Ferguson, Mo. The election is the first chance at citizen-led change in the St. Louis suburb nationally notorious for racial turmoil.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber was more active than previously known in clearing the way for fiancée Cylvia Hayes to be active in his administration even while working as a paid consultant to outside interests, according to newly released state emails.

Georgia's brush with the "religious liberty" controversies engulfing Indiana and Arkansas appeared to fizzle Thursday as the end of lawmakers' annual legislative session approached without passage, putting off an issue likely to be back here next year.

Local police and a city official in Ferguson, Mo., sent racially charged emails comparing minority welfare recipients to dogs and made insensitive comments about Muslims, copies of the emails released by the city show.

The governors of Arkansas and Indiana on Thursday quickly signed revised versions of their respective religious freedom laws, hoping to quell a national uproar that united business leaders and gay rights activists who fought the measures as potentially discriminatory.

Gay marriage is likely coming to Mississippi, either at the hands of a New Orleans federal appeals court or when the U.S. Supreme Court takes action in June. But hostility toward homosexuality here explains why many gay families predict their problems won't end with a legal victory for same-sex marriage.

Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada have moved forward with laws to legalize websites offering casino-type games including poker, blackjack and slot machines. Now a Texas congressman is hoping to legalize online poker with bill.

Standing in a browned meadow that should have been buried in deep snow, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered California's first-ever mandatory water cutback, imposing a 25 percent reduction to force residents and businesses to significantly tighten up water use.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday had been expected to sign his state's version of legislation billed as a religious freedom measure, despite complaints that it could lead to discrimination, especially against gays and lesbians.

Earning praise from frequent critics, Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoed language on Wednesday crafted by fellow Republicans that would have required out-of-state residents who register to vote in Ohio to obtain an Ohio driver's license and vehicle registration within 30 days.

Senate and House budget negotiators on Wednesday reached accord to avoid multi-million-dollar cuts to the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, and to freeze tuition at all six state regents universities for the next two years.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's proposed Insure Tennessee plan flopped for a second time Tuesday in a Senate committee and that's thrown the House effort into confusion with two top supporters disagreeing over whether to try to move it today in a subcommittee there.

Gov. Doug Ducey signs a law that bars women from buying healthcare plans through the federal marketplace that include abortion coverage and requires abortion providers to tell women they can reverse the effects of a drug-induced abortion.

Republican leaders in the Indiana General Assembly said Monday they are looking at options to clarify the state's controversial religious freedom law, though they don't believe the law would allow discrimination against gays and lesbians as opponents fear.

Police were working Monday to piece together the final days and hours of Robert "Spence" Jackson's life, as Missouri Republicans struggled to make sense of the second suicide of a prominent state party member in four weeks.

Standing in the basement dining room of a West Loop Greek restaurant Sunday afternoon, Mayor Rahm Emanuel accepted the endorsement of one of his chief antagonists -- former mayoral candidate and outgoing 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti.

The Supreme Court delivered a rare victory for minority voting rights Wednesday, finding that a 2012 Alabama redistricting plan appeared to violate federal law by shifting black voters into districts they already dominated to dilute their influence elsewhere.

The Supreme Court's conservative justices sharply questioned the high cost of a new Obama administration environmental regulation Wednesday, raising the prospect they may block the strict emissions standards for coal-fired power plants.

Chicago voters turned out in large numbers for the first two days of early voting ahead of the mayoral runoff, and suburban voters in the upcoming election will get newly designed stickers to show everybody they cast ballots, election officials announced.

A top Homeland Security Department official intervened to help projects backed by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Sen. Harry Reid in a program aimed at attracting foreign investments in exchange for U.S. residency, the agency's internal watchdog said.

Warning of a liquidity crisis though 2015 and a situation "a lot more severe" than they had anticipated, Atlantic City's emergency management team has recommended $10 million in budget cuts, hundreds of layoffs and mediators appointed to negotiate with casinos and unions.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to Wisconsin's voter identification law, restoring the measure it had dramatically blocked ahead of last November's election but not in time for the April 7 ballot.

A long-awaited U.S. Justice Department report on police shootings in Philadelphia concluded Monday that there is "significant strife between the community and the department," and recommended wholesale changes in procedures and training.

Gov. Christie on Monday conditionally vetoed legislation that would have repealed the mandatory suspension of driver's licenses for first-time drunk drivers and instead required them to install devices that would be able to detect alcohol and stop cars from starting.

A federal judge on Friday struck down a Wisconsin law requiring doctors performing abortions to get hospital-admitting privileges, concluding that the measure was enacted to bar women from getting abortions.

Eleven days before federal agents searched state Auditor Troy Kelley's Tacoma home on March 16, they demanded records related to a state employee and longtime business partner of Kelley's whose name appears in an acrimonious lawsuit tied to Kelley's past business dealings.

A new state law effective today will allow hunters to use suppressors on guns; permit Ohioans to buy rifles, shotguns and ammunition from any state; and implement a more-rigorous background check for concealed-carry permits.

Tesla Motors can go back to selling its luxury electric cars directly to consumers in New Jersey as Gov. Chris Christie Wednesday signed legislation that allows the car maker to do so at up to four locatio

A Dane County judge declined to issue a temporary injunction Thursday that would have put Wisconsin's new right-to-work law on hold, finding that there wasn't adequate proof that unions would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction.

Acknowledging that California's water conservation efforts are falling short as the state descends into a fourth year of punishing drought, the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday imposed new mandatory water conservation rules that will affect millions of people -- from how homeowners water their lawns to how restaurants and hotels serve their guests.

Ads attacking U.S. military aid to Israel were posted on Muni buses in San Francisco this year without incident. But Seattle's public transit line rejected the ads after threats of violence, and on Wednesday a divided federal appeals court upheld its decision.

One of the most successful investments in the history of the Alaska Permanent Fund grew out of a chance conversation by two men waiting in line at Boston's Logan Airport for a flight to Seattle. A friend introduced the president of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to a portfolio manager for the Alaska Permanent Fund.

Failures in the hiring and supervision of San Diego police led to a series of misconduct cases, but the Police Department remains "progressive, sound and very effective," according to a federal review released Tuesday.

The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the city of Atlanta's plans to help finance the new $1.4 billion Falcons stadium, allowing the city to move forward with issuing $200 million in bonds toward the project.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying to protect the Washington, D.C., school voucher system, a GOP pet program championed by Speaker John A. Boehner and others with no impact on the rest of the country.

The state now expects that earnings from the Constitutional Budget Reserve in 2016 will be about $357 million. How long the account might last after that will depend on oil prices, state spending and tax policy.

People can type in their names at illinoistreasurer.gov to see what they may have lost. Starting Monday and ending Friday, anyone can click on the "Unclaimed Property Auction" link on the website to bid on the forgotten items.

A total of 16.4 million non-elderly adults have gained health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act became law five years ago this month – a “historic” reduction in the number of uninsured, the Department of Health and Human Services said Monday.

Rahm Emanuel and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia engaged in a contentious first debate Monday night, as the mayor accused his challenger of having no plans to deal with the city's financial problems while Garcia contended Emanuel served only "the rich and powerful."

Alaska is staring down a $3.5 billion deficit. Investment income from state savings has shown remarkable resiliency and has overtaken oil-production taxes in their value to the state. But the deficits will require the Legislature to spend down those savings accounts.

Fourteen states are joining in the push to salvage President Barack Obama's plan to grant legal protection to millions of people in the U.S. illegally _ even if it's only revived in their parts of the country.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Wednesday said he was willing to work with Republicans on a plan to expand the state's Medicaid program and even offered endorsements for conservative ideas that have drawn reproach from some health advocates.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's opposition to raising the income tax and proposal to slash the state budget have Democratic lawmakers pushing more than a dozen other tax hikes as they try to bring in more money to save social service programs that are on the chopping block.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that if the attorney general is in active opposition to the state, as Janet Mills is over health care policy, she loses her right to oversee the use of outside counsel. But it's a limited victory for Gov. Paul LePage

A lawyer for the state faced skeptical questioning from Illinois Supreme Court justices Wednesday as she defended a landmark pension reform law by arguing that benefit cuts to public workers were a response to a financial emergency tied to the Great Recession.

Legislators have approved removing from a bill a mandatory repeal of the state's Common Core standards -- following great opposition from state education officials, who said the legislation could disrupt West Virginia's entire K-12 system, cost more than $100 million and threaten federal funding.

The justices will consider a case crucial to Kathleen Kane's political future. After a seven-month investigation a grand jury concluded the attorney general had illegally leaked confidential information to embarrass a political foe and then lied about it to the jury.

The University of Oklahoma became a trending topic Sunday night on Twitter as videos allegedly showing members of one of the school's fraternities shouting a racist chant made their way across the Internet on YouTube and Instagram.

In a powerful illustration of the state's increasingly polarized politics, the Wisconsin Assembly passed so-called right-to-work legislation Friday on a strictly party-line vote, with two Republicans who had previously sided with unions now lining up against them.

Under Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed cuts to the Department of Children and Family Services, thousands of older state wards for whom Illinois failed to find permanent placement before they aged out of foster care will be forced to fend for themselves.

New Jersey announced Thursday that it has settled an environmental damage claim against Exxon Mobil Corp. for $225 million, $25 million less than originally reported last week and far less than the $8.9 billion it had originally sought.

A record-breaking snowstorm slammed Kentucky on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, stranding thousands of motorists on interstates and prompting a statewide emergency declaration for the second time in 21/2 weeks.

It was reasonable for police Officer Darren Wilson to be afraid of Michael Brown in their encounter last summer, a Justice Department investigation concluded, and thus he cannot be prosecuted for fatally shooting the unarmed 18-year-old.

Supreme Court justices raised tough questions Monday about Arizona's use of an independent commission to draw legislative maps, in a case crucial for political operators and reformers in California and beyond.

Florida's congressional redistricting maps should be rejected because they are the product of a shadowy process infiltrated by Republican political operatives in violation of the law against partisan gerrymandering, lawyers argued before the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Gov. Tom Wolf today proposed an expansive plan for Pennsylvania state government that would shift the burden of education funding from the property tax toward the personal income tax while drawing on natural gas drilling to increase money for schools.

The 2015 session of the Legislature began Tuesday with two starkly different visions of Florida, as Republicans and Democrats used the opening day to mark their political territory and set contrasting priorities for the next two months.

Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce Wednesday that a Department of Justice investigation found patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court that violate the Constitution and federal law.

Alabama's highest court once again ordered judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, defying a federal judge who struck down the state's ban on such unions as unconstitutional and ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to intervene.

Gov. Charlie Baker hopes to convince about 4,500 state workers to take early retirement. It'll cost the state $50 million, but his administration says the overall budget savings will more than make up for it.

The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that blanket statewide restrictions on where sex offenders may live violate the constitutional rights of parolees in San Diego County -- and potentially those in other counties.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski's startling announcement Monday that she will not seek re-election in 2016 after more than four decades in elected office set off a political free-for-all as Maryland's most powerful politicians began to position themselves for the opportunity to run for a rare open seat.

Beverly L. Hall, the former Atlanta schools superintendent whose renown as an education reformer dissolved amid the ignominy of the nation's largest test-cheating scandal, died Monday of breast cancer. She was 68.

Gov. Christie's proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 assumes hundreds of millions of dollars in savings achieved through the expansion of Medicaid under President Obama's health-care law.

After bolting to national prominence on a record of bringing public employee unions to heel and taming runaway pension costs like those that have challenged state governments across the country, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hit a very large hurdle recently.

Their numbers may pale in comparison to the peak protest rallies of 2011, but the passion was much the same for those who showed up Saturday to demonstrate their opposition to right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin.

The deployment of additional state police and Texas National Guard troops to the southern border last June has reduced illegal border crossings but cost more than $100 million and compromised the Department of Public Safety's ability to combat crimes elsewhere, according to an internal DPS assessment prepared for Gov. Greg Abbott and lawmakers.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cut back on the power of state licensing boards to restrict competitors from offering low-cost services, a victory for consumers that could prove significant in industries as disparate as taxicabs, funerals and cosmetology.

The city that brought America government shutdowns and all-night filibusters is set to make pot legal on Thursday. But by the time the chaos over implementing the law is settled, most everyone in the District of Columbia might wish they were smoking some.

When President Barack Obama dropped into his hometown a few days before the city election to designate the historic Pullman district a national monument and heap praise on Rahm Emanuel, rivals decried the move as pure politics aimed at pumping up African-American support for the mayor.

Rahm Emanuel failed to win a second term Tuesday, suffering a national political embarrassment as little-known, lesser-funded challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia forced the mayor into the uncharted waters of an April runoff election.

Gov. Christie said today that a plan has been outlined to fix the state's chronically underfunded pension system, claiming an "unprecedented accord" with the state's largest teachers' union on the issue.

Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday used a small southwest Ohio town to demonstrate that a resilient state is back on its feet even as he challenged lawmakers to have the courage to "follow the plan" to continue the progress.

President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday that would have approved construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the first veto of a year that seems likely to feature repeated such moves as the Democratic president confronts the Republican-led Congress.

A New Jersey judge ruled Monday that Gov. Christie violated public-sector unions' contractual rights when he cut the state's payment to the pension system for public workers in June, and she ordered him to work with the Legislature to find a solution.

Chicago voters head to the polls Tuesday and will decide whether Mayor Rahm Emanuel collects a majority and quickly wins a second term or faces six more weeks of campaigning and a politically risky runoff election.

A bill requiring Tennessee's State Board of Education to drop Common Core education standards and develop new requirements has a math problem: It's projected to cost $4.14 million over a three-year period.

City officials announced the resignation and retirement of longtime Greensburg Fire Chief Scott Chasteen Friday, three days after criminal charges were filed against his wife, the former Greensburg Chief of Police.

After saying in his re-election bid that he wouldn't push so-called right-to-work legislation, Gov. Scott Walker committed Friday to signing it, acting after GOP leaders fast-tracked the proposal for a Senate vote next week.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Sheldon Silver, the powerful former leader of New York's state assembly, on charges that the legislator used his position and state funds to earn millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks for himself.

The University of Massachusetts, under pressure for a policy that barred Iranian nationals from seeking admission to certain graduate science courses, reversed itself on Wednesday and announced it will now accept the students.

Rep. Janice Hahn, D-Calif., will forgo a congressional re-election campaign next year and instead run for an open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, where her populist father, the late Kenneth Hahn, served for four decades.

Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas should reorder its fiscal priorities to do more for education, roads and border security -- and hand out $4.5 billion in tax cuts -- even as it clamps down on spending for many programs.

There's an awkward political dance that's being performed nationwide as more Republican governors push for Medicaid expansion, despite tepid support from GOP state lawmakers and a continuing assault on the health care law by Republicans in Congress.

The Obama administration promised Tuesday to fight against opposition from both the courts and Congress to keep in place its expansive new programs to shield millions of immigrants from deportation, a key piece of the president's effort to shape his legacy in his final years in office.

Approximately 11.4 million people have signed up for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act this year, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday, signaling a strong conclusion to the federal health law's second enrollment period.

In the wake of polarizing grand jury decisions in the police-related deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, New York's top judge wants judges to oversee the grand jury process in cases involving deadly and near-deadly incidents involving police and civilians.

A Travis County judge ruled Tuesday that the Texas ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, but there was no rush to the altar after county officials _ scrambling to assess the effect of the judge's 3 p.m. order _ declined to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, at least for now.

A federal judge in south Texas issued an injunction Monday temporarily blocking a program President Obama announced in November that would defer deportation for about 5 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The derailments this week of two trains carrying crude oil have raised new questions about the adequacy of federal efforts to improve the safety of moving oil on tank cars from new North American wells to distant refineries.

Calling heroin a crisis that crosses state boundaries, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said Thursday that his office will join counterparts in the Northeast to share information and jointly prosecute drug traffickers.

The blizzard-battered commuter rail and subway will not be back to normal for "at least" another 30 days, the transit authority's embattled general manager admitted yesterday, forecasting a bleak month of long, expensive slogs for hundreds of thousands of commuters -- as another storm looms.